HOUSTON - Valero Energy Corp. is set to spend $730 million to upgrade a pair of its Texas refineries so they can process additional crude from the nearby Eagle Ford Shale.

Valero will pump $390 million into its Houston refinery and another $340 million into its Corpus Christi plant, equipping them to process more South Texas light sweet crude.

“We’re processing as much light sweet crude as we can at both of those facilities right now,” company spokesman Bill Day says. “Because our proximity to the Eagle Ford Shale, we’d like to be processing more.” Valero plans to complete the upgrades by the end of 2015. It has already received approval from state environmental regulators to begin the work.

The projects will allow Valero’s Houston refinery to process an additional 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of light sweet crude and Corpus Christi an additional 70,000 bpd. The company’s Corpus Christi complex has a total capacity of 325,000 bpd, while the Houston refinery has a capacity of 160,000 bpd. Both produce a wide variety of petroleum products.